Federal Implications of Northern Territory Statehood

Just over a decade since the failed referendum of 1998, statehood for the Northern Territory (NT) is back on the political agenda. The achievement of statehood would be a first for Australian federalism, where no new state has been created or admitted since Federation. Following a discussion of the concept of statehood and how it might be achieved, it traces the political development of the NT. The article then examines the implications of NT statehood for the Australian federation and finds that statehood would facilitate constitutional change in the federation by lowering the threshold required for success in a national referendum. Statehood may also raise questions about the equal representation in the Senate of less populous states. However, statehood would have no effect upon financial arrangements with the Commonwealth, the standing of the Northern Territory at COAG meetings, or the legal standing of the other states.     

Does price really converge among provinces in Canada？ A study using unit root tests for cross-sectional panels

This paper examines price convergences across different provinces in Canada using 1983-2006 data. We adopt the new panel unit root tests for analysis that can correct for cross-sectional correlation. Our findings are contrary to previous studies and we conclude that intra-national price convergence does not occur. We also briefly discuss the reasons for the absence of convergence within Canada.     

Internal constraints on the process of industrialization in Gaza

This paper examines the internal constraints on Gaza's manufacturing sector during the Israeli occupation. Manufacturing development was constrained by the Israeli occupation, but the authors chose to look at the situation from Gaza's point of view, and examine the attitudes and the effects of the lack of industrial experience on manufacturing.

Internal constraints include the ‘lack of an adequate skills base’, ‘a misunderstanding and distrust of marketing’, ‘unsophisticated attitudes towards finance and the value of time’, ‘price being seen as more important than quality’ and ‘authoritarian attitudes to management practice’. Local education and training are struggling to remedy aspects of this situation but they presently lack the resources.

There was a widespread lack of understanding of the concept of a company as a separate entity.     

Small state soft power strategies: virtual enlargement in the cases of the Vatican City State and Singapore

The concept of soft power, or symbolic power, offers unexplored potential for analysing small state power. This article argues that it is a means of virtual enlargement of small states' foreign policy reach and presence. If one examines the bases of soft power, it becomes evident that small states can utilize their political economy potential, models of good governance and diplomatic mediation as forms of power that defy their territorial limitations. Case studies of the Vatican City State and Singapore illustrate ‘small state soft power’.     

Negotiating the EU–U.S. Open Aviation Area Agreement 2007 in the Context of Transatlantic Airline Regimes Since 1944

Between 1944 and 2002, the United States sought to create a competitive and commercially driven international civil aviation regime. It tried to peel away politically inspired regulations, which fragmented the marketplace, and deliver efficiencies and consumer benefits. In contrast with the American liberal tradition—albeit with limitations—the industry in Europe was over-regulated and largely based on subsidised state-owned carriers with international market quotas. Thus for many years Europe and the U.S. followed different paths; but political and economic dynamics conspired together in the 1980s and early 1990s to produce remarkable change in the European Community and, by 1997, there were the makings of a competitive and lightly regulated single market, which brought it close to U.S. practice. Since 2002, the United States has been less liberal in its airline policies; the EU has been more liberal. It would be an irony indeed if the great regime liberaliser since 1944 were now to become a force of regulatory conservatism that denied consummation to the vision of a transatlantic open aviation area that could be a magnet to draw in the rest of the world into a truly global commercial airline market.